The assassination of Charlie Kirk added extreme sadness to the already solemn 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told Newsmax on Thursday morning.
Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, the largest and most influential conservative youth organization in the U.S., was shot and killed Wednesday during an event in Utah.
Comer appeared on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" 24 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It's just a really solemn day with what happened with Charlie Kirk yesterday as well as Sept. 11," Comer told co-hosts Sharla McBride and Marc Lotter. "I mean, we've got a nation that is wounded and we've got to come together as a nation. I think that's something that we should all reflect on today.
"It's just a very remarkable day to have so much that we mourn. We still mourn Sept. 11. We all know where we were on that day. And yet when we look at America, you know, we have so much to be proud of. There's no nation that is better than America. That's why so many people want to come to America, that we're trying to cross the border illegally. We stand for freedom, but we have got to unite as a country."
Comer called Kirk "the champion of free speech and debate."
"It is perfectly fine to disagree. We have differing ideologies right here in this building where I stand this morning. But we have to we have to try to unite as a country. We can't continue to demonstrate an unwillingness to get along," Comer said.
"And you know this, the political temperature has to be turned down in America. And I hope that on Sept. 11, with what's happened in the last 24 hours, we all reflect on that today and hopefully we'll do better in the future."
Lotter showed Comer video clips of Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blaming President Donald Trump for "fomenting" political violence.
"It's very disappointing to see people's true colors in times like this," Comer told Lotter and McBride. "I hope that again, people will have self-reflection because Charlie Kirk was a great American. He was a patriot, just like what President Trump said his life had meaning. It was a purpose driven life. Not only was he a great inspirer of the next generation to be active in in the political process. He was a tremendous Christian leader, and I think that that's how he'll be remembered.
"And I hope that people on the far left will get their radicalized ideology out of their way and realize that we've got to come together as a nation. It's OK to disagree. That's what Charlie Kirk's life was about. It was open debate. He wanted and welcomed people that disagreed with him to come out and debate him. And that's what that's what America is all about. And we've just got to get back to that. And I hope that people will remember Charlie Kirk when we have, you know, moments of discourse in America, especially right here in Washington, D.C."
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.